After the Commission and the European Council, the US administration and the Canadian government also ban TikTok. The White House has given all federal agencies 30 days to delete the world‘s most popular entertainment app from all government devices, a decision made due to security concerns. The Office of Management and Budget called the guidance, released Monday, “a key step forward in addressing the risks posed by the app to sensitive government data.” The White House already doesn’t allow TikTok on its devices. “The Biden-Harris administration has invested heavily in defending our nation’s digital infrastructure and limiting foreign adversaries’ access to Americans’ data,” said Chris DeRusha, federal information security chief. This guidance is part of the Administration’s ongoing efforts to protect our digital infrastructure and protect the security and privacy of the American people.”
The director of the Office of Management and Budget of the White House, Shalanda Young, indicated – in a directive that contemplates few exceptions – that agencies will have to identify the presence of the application, establish an internal process to limit its use, delete the installations and revoke authorization for their use, while prohibiting Internet traffic on computer installations belonging to the agencies. Within 90 days, agencies will also have to stipulate in the contracts the prohibition of the use of the app on their devices and cancel any contracts that provide for its use.
Instead, the Canadian government announced that starting today it will ban the TikTok app on mobile devices it provides to its staff, emphasizing “an unacceptable level of risk” to privacy and security”. TikTok’s data collection methods provide considerable access to phone content,” Treasury Minister Mona Fortier said, adding in a statement that the decision was made “as a precautionary measure.” She then reassured the public saying that at the moment “there is no reason to believe that government information has been compromised”.
Beijing’s reaction: “It’s an abuse of power”
“The United States as the world‘s largest power is so scared of an app that young people like, it’s too insecure.” This is the comment of Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, on the White House’s provision on Tik Tok. “We strongly oppose the wrongful practice of the United States of generalizing the concept of national security, abusing state power and unreasonably suppressing the companies of other countries,” Mao added in the daily briefing.
The decision of the European Commission
The application has “data protection concerns”. For this reason, last week “to protect the Commission’s data and systems from potential cybersecurity threats”, the executive led by Ursula von der Leyen ordered all its officials to uninstall the apps of the popular Chinese social network from their devices provided by the administration, but also by personal ones if used for work.
The fear is that TikTok could be used by China to access sensitive data on the phone and in particular those relating to the activities of public administrations. The European Commission’s decision follows the one taken at the end of December by the American administration. At the moment no other EU institution has adopted the ban and neither have the governments of the Member States, but now it could only be a matter of time. In fact, the Netherlands seem oriented to follow the same path.